Rose of Tralee (festival) - Modern Practice

Modern Practice

The Rose of Tralee festival is now held annually at the end of August in Tralee, County Kerry, to choose a young woman to be crowned the Rose. The winning Rose is the woman deemed to best match the attributes relayed in the song: "lovely and fair". The winner is selected based on her personality and should be a good role model for the festival and for Ireland during her travels around the world. In contrast to beauty pageants, there is no swimwear section in the Rose of Tralee contest and the contestants are not judged on their appearances but rather their over-all personality and suitability to serve as ambassadors for the festival. The festival bills itself as celebration of the "aspirations, ambitions, intellect, social responsibility and Irish heritage" of modern young women.

Each of the 32 counties in Ireland select a Rose and there is also a Rós Fódhla representing the Gaeltacht or Irish-speaking areas in Ireland. Regional finals are held in June in Portlaoise, where six Irish women are selected to take part in the International Rose of Tralee festival. Roses from Kerry, Dublin and Cork automatically qualify for the festival held in August.

There are international Roses chosen from around the world who also participate in the Rose of Tralee festival. These include the centres of Birmingham, Boston, Darwin, Dubai, France, London, Luxembourg, Leeds, Newcastle, New York, New Orleans, New Zealand, Perth, Philadelphia, Queensland, San Francisco, Southern California, South Australia, Sunderland, Sydney, Texas, Toronto and many more centres who take part in the qualifying rounds. A regional final is held in Portlaoise, County Laois each year in early June to select the contestants that are not automatically sent to the International Festival; currently, only Kerry, Cork, Dublin, London, and the Australian Roses bypass the regional competition.

The contest, which is broadcast over two nights by RTÉ has been hosted since 2010 by Dáithí Ó Sé. It was previously presented for over twenty years by Gay Byrne. Other previous presenters include Ray D'Arcy (2005–09), Ryan Tubridy, Marty Whelan and Derek Davis. The first presenter of The Rose of Tralee (prior to it being televised) was Kevin Hilton.

The festival has had financial difficulties in recent years, however the number of people who view the live broadcast of the program remains high.

In 2008 unmarried mothers were allowed to enter the contest for the first time.

The Channel 4 comedy Father Ted parodied the festival in the episode "Rock-a-Hula Ted" where the eponymous character is asked to host the local "Lovely Girls" competition. Will Scally produced and directed a Channel Four documentary called Rose of Tralee.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the festival in 2009, 50 roses took part in the 2009 competition rather than the approximately 30 who take part every other year.

Michele McCormack (1985 Chicago Rose) has gone on to win an Edward R. Murrow Award in her chosen profession of broadcast journalism. She hosts selection contests both in Philadelphia and the Midwest. (She credits her interview technique to Gay Byrne, who hosted the contest when she was in Tralee.) Other notable roses include Aoife Mulholland of Galway (2003) who went on to achieve acclaim as an actor. Sinéad De Roiste was the first "African Irish American", as she called herself, representing Philadelphia (2003). Noreen M. Culhane (New York Rose 1970) now Executive Vice President of the New York Stock Exchange.